"An Outstanding piece of literature. Read as it explores the innocence of being a rebellious teenager during a time when many are to be drafted into World War II."
- The Radical Rachel
"A Seperate Peace opens the mind to new depths of thought on innocence and peace."
- The Leafy Green
"John Knowles has an amazing style, the words jump off the page."
- Rae's Reviews
What Makes A Separate Peace Outstanding
John Knowles, the author, takes best pals, Gene and Phineas, from the page to a motion picture in your mind. A Seperate Peace takes place in New England at the beginning of World War II. Devon, a boarding school, is open for the first summer ever and the sixteen year old boys take advantage of a few months like never before. Phineas, or Finny, starts the summer by bending every rule he can and even making up a few of his own. As Gene reminisces on this life changing summer, you can feel yourself walking the halls of Devon or being asked to jump out of "the tree" , into the river, at a Super Sucicide Society of the Summer Session meeting. You can just hear Finny saying.. " We'll form a suicide society, and the membership requirement is one jump out of this tree" (Knowles 31).
The summer of 1942 is one the boys will remember forever. Many will be itching to keep reading as they watch Gene and his friends at Devon change from boys to men. With Finny always cooking up crazy ideas and his sly way of talking his way out of trouble, what happens next is always a guessing game. Knowles made me understand Finny and his need to create his own facts of what went on in histroy. " I'll hate it everywhere if I'm not in this war! Why do you think I kept saying there wasn't any war all winter?" (Knowles 190).
I think this book is outstanding, because it challenges you with a wide vocabulary, a plot that takes you from giggles to tears, and a variety of characters that may just make you wonder what Devon had in their water at times. I would recommend this book to anyone that us up for a little challenge and likes a book that makes you think. It is a fantastic novel, that I'd be willing to read again and again. Famous Finny Quotes
"I wonder what would happen if I looked like a fairy to everyone?" (Knowles 25)
"I don't really believe we bombed Central Europe, do you?" (Knowles 29)
"My God! So I really did it. You know what? I thought I was going to do it. It felt as though I had the stop watch in my head and I could hear myself going just a little bit faster than A. Hopkins Parker" (Knowles 43).
"You never waste your time. That's why I have to do it for you" (Knowles 51).
"If I had a brain like that I'd-I'd have my head cut open so people could look at it" (Knowles 58).
"That's what this whole war story is. A medicinal drug. Listen did you ever hear of the 'roaring twenties'? When they all drank bathtub gin and everybody who was young just did what they wanted? Well what happened was that they didn't like that, the preachers and the old ladies and all the stuffed shirts. So then they tried prohibition and everybody just got drunker, so then they really got desperate and arranged the Depression. That kept people who were young in the thirties in their places. But they couldn't use that trick forever, so for us in the forties they've cooked up the war fake" (Knowles 115).
A SEPARATE PEACE
- The Radical Rachel
"A Seperate Peace opens the mind to new depths of thought on innocence and peace."
- The Leafy Green
"John Knowles has an amazing style, the words jump off the page."
- Rae's Reviews
What Makes A Separate Peace Outstanding
John Knowles, the author, takes best pals, Gene and Phineas, from the page to a motion picture in your mind. A Seperate Peace takes place in New England at the beginning of World War II. Devon, a boarding school, is open for the first summer ever and the sixteen year old boys take advantage of a few months like never before. Phineas, or Finny, starts the summer by bending every rule he can and even making up a few of his own. As Gene reminisces on this life changing summer, you can feel yourself walking the halls of Devon or being asked to jump out of "the tree" , into the river, at a Super Sucicide Society of the Summer Session meeting. You can just hear Finny saying..
" We'll form a suicide society, and the membership requirement is one jump out of this tree" (Knowles 31).
The summer of 1942 is one the boys will remember forever. Many will be itching to keep reading as they watch Gene and his friends at Devon change from boys to men. With Finny always cooking up crazy ideas and his sly way of talking his way out of trouble, what happens next is always a guessing game. Knowles made me understand Finny and his need to create his own facts of what went on in histroy.
" I'll hate it everywhere if I'm not in this war! Why do you think I kept saying there wasn't any war all winter?" (Knowles 190).
I think this book is outstanding, because it challenges you with a wide vocabulary, a plot that takes you from giggles to tears, and a variety of characters that may just make you wonder what Devon had in their water at times. I would recommend this book to anyone that us up for a little challenge and likes a book that makes you think. It is a fantastic novel, that I'd be willing to read again and again.
Famous Finny Quotes
Works Cited
Book:
Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. New York: Scribner, 1959.
Picture:
http://www.janaedwards.com/SPboystree.jpg. Jane Edwards. March, 27,2008.